Friday, March 22, 2013

Here are some cards I enhanced from last weeks post on The Robins Nest blog.
I liked the idea so much that I went ahead and made 18 more cards for friends and family this Easter.
Check these out and then visit here for materials used in case you want to make some of your own.
Feel free to "pin", tweet, share or leave me a comment. I'd love to hear from you!

Friday, March 15, 2013

Today I am featured on The Robins Nest blog!
There, you will find a tutorial of these 3 "Faberge Easter Egg Cards" including
this adorable 'Bunny Charm'!
Come by for some creative fun, and be sure to say Hi!

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Last night I sat down and decided I needed to start making "Thank You" cards from My Birthday in February. I really wanted to play with this adorable new Elephant stamp from Stampin Up called "Henry says". I could not find my stash of paper scraps so I decided to color him by way of Air Brushing.

I used the wide end of my Spectrum Noir pens and a air spritzer from Stampin Up. The Spritzer is designed to hold generic brush tip pens, like the kind I use to color my stamps before stamping...but the square Noir pens don't fit in the round hole on the spritzer. No biggie.

I just hold the pen above where I want color and give the ink tip a blast of air from the Spritzer.
The wetter the pen, the easier the spritz. I also takes break in between spritzing so not to trigger my carpal tunnel in my wrist.

Well that all for now, I''l be sure to post the finished Thank You cards soon!
If you are interested in ordering "Henry Says" or the Spritzer....Let me know and I'll tell you how to get them!

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Welcome to another exciting blog hop!
Do you want a chance to win Buttons Galore Buttons and a Viewtainer container?
Simply hop through the Designer crafts Challenge hop using the "hop forward button" at the bottom of this post. Visit all the designers and see their button crafts.
Find your favorite project and post it in comments on the buttons galore blog, here..

As long as you leave your comment on their blog with your favorite button project, no later than

Comments need to be made by March 17th, 2013 at 11:59 eastern standard time,

you will have a chance to win one of the Viewtainers shown above "loaded" with an assortment of buttons and 45 feet of ribbon!

Whee! Just imagine what you could create with that!

Now on to my craft...I'm a owl lover and these buttons had "owl" written all over them!

I hand stitched these happy birds, layering some buttons and placing the buttons...oh...wherever.
I love the random whimsy of the buttons colors, some vintage, some current. :)

For the rosette flower, you'll need a 2" piece of double sided tape. If you don't have some this size, you can make your own from the glossy backing of a sticker sheet. Place some regular double sided tape onto the shiny side of a 2" circle of sticker sheet. Now you are ready!

Begin by pleating your fabric strips in a circle. Cut more stripes as needed and continue around, pressing the fabric into the tape until you reach the center.

Gently peel off the backing.

Add some glue to the center of the flower and add your dew drops.

Materials Needed:

Packaging Tape Transfer:

*Your widest clear packing/shipping tape

*Inkjet images

*Small precision scissors, preferably non-stick.

*A shallow dish with water

*Dish Towel

( I get my images printed at kinkos. I use their color copy machine for any images in color and black/white. - if I were to use my normal
home printer, the colors would just dissolve.)

Begin by cutting out your image. If you have a little white paper showing, this will just turn clear. Next pull out a a piece of the clear tape. Place your image, ink side down onto the sticky part of the tape. Run over the image with your finger to remove any bubbles.

Place your tape, sticky side up into your water. push down to completely submerge. When you see the piece start to get saturated as in the photo above, pick it up and gently with your thumb, rub off the paper. It will come off in rolls, revealing the see through image.

Continue dunking in the water to saturate as this process does not work when dry. When you think you have removed all the paper, place the piece on the dish towel sticky side up. After a minute or two, you will see where you might have missed some paper. Continue the saturation process, carefully not to rub off any of the image. Then place the image sticky side down onto your dish towel and give two quick pats before turning over to dry.

When dry, the tape will regain it's stickyness, and then you have created a custom transparent sticker!
In the above photo, I have overlapped two pieces of tracking tape to fit a larger clip art image.
Then I placed everything onto a decorated gift bag. The reciever of the gift absolutely loved it!

Thanks for coming by, I hope you have enjoyed this. Sorry it was long! Please visit the rest of the designers for some more crafty fun and don't forget about the giveaway!

To enter to win, hop through the DCC
blogs and leave a comment on the blogs featuring your favorite
technique, or a technique you can't wait to try, then letJulie Mcguffee know which
ones they are by commenting on her blog. She will be picking a winner
at the end of March, so don't forget to check back. Good Luck!

Friday, March 1, 2013

Hi everyone! Welcome to The Amazing Mold Putty Design Team, Color Tour!
All the Designers have been hard at work creating colorful pieces made from Amazing Mold Putty and Resin. At the bottom of this post you'll find the quick links to the other Designers blogs.
*Please visit each one and then post your "vote" on the 1st blog (Amazing Mold Putty) -of your favorite project.
One lucky person, (could be you!) will be randomly drawn on Monday, March 4th, after 12 noon PST.

My project is inspired from my love of hand blown glass demonstrations I always see at local fairs here in southern California.
I hope you will enjoy what I have created. I used the following:Amazing Mold PuttyAmazing Clear Cast ResinAlumilite Dye - Red, Yellow and Blue
1 small jar, 1 large jar, bamboo skewers, a marker, non stick craft mat, cups and sticks for mixing, paper towels, dremel tool and clear acrylic sealer.

Rummage through your clean empty jars until you find one that might fit inside the other with room to spare. Turn them upside down and with one jar at a time, mix equal amounts of the white and yellow Amazing Mold Putty until one uniform color of yellow, and no white streaks appear. Make a pancake of the putty and working quickly, drape over the bottom of jar one. Form it in shape, working out any air pockets. Repeat process for jar two. Leave jars to set about 20 minutes.
Once firm, carefully pry off. You will notice some imperfections on the inside of the large mold and on the outside of the small mold. Mix some more putty and fix these issues. Let set before you go onto the next step.

Place your smaller mold inside the larger one, holding it so the bottoms and sides don't touch. This will give you a idea where to place the skewers. Carefully push the skewers through the molds, twisting as you go. push through the smaller mold as shown. If you make a mistake, just pull out and the hole will seal up. Keep your skewers as close to the top as possible. Break off pieces of the skewers to use on the sides (as shown) to act as reinforcements. You want to make sure the bottom and sides are not touching. The sticks keeps the inner mold from tipping and stabilizes everything so you can pour the resin easily.

Make a pancake or two of the Amazing Mold Putty, but before it has a chance to set, "stamp" it with the bottom of a marker. Half way through the set process, stamp again to 'open' up those holes.
3 clear mixing cups come with the Clear Cast Resin. I used one for each color. I poured resin "A" up to the 1/2 Tsp mark and resin "B" to the 1 Tsp mark. I mixed thoroughly with the provided popsicle stick and added a few drops of my choice of Alumilite dye. I poured directly from the mixing cup into the molds by way of 'dripping', wiping drips of the cup with a paper towel as I worked. Any leftovers were dripped into button molds I keep on hand when working with resin.
Usually Clear Cast Resin takes 24 hours to set, but since I knew they would continue to set inside the main mold, I popped them out after 8 hours.

Now I knew those small measuring cups provided were not going to work with the size of my bowl mold, so I put two clear plastic cups inside each other. I poured in 2 oz of tap water into the inside cup and marked the outside of the second cup with a permanent pen. I added another 2 oz of water and marked the outside cup again. I removed the inside cup with water and now had a dry measuring cup for resin.

I poured part "A" of the Clear Cast Resin to the 2oz line, and part "B" to the 4 oz line. I mixed thoroughly until those swirls you see were gone, scraping the sides and bottom as I mixed. Next I poured some resin into my mold, tipping the mold to make sure the bottom was filled. Working in layers, I dropped in my color pieces, pushing them in with a popsicle stick, while pouring in the resin, careful not to get any near the skewers. I placed the filled mold in a spot out of harms way, with a stick under one part of the mold to keep it level as it cured over night.

In the morning I carefully removed the skewers and resin bowl from the mold. The edges were sharp so I cut some off with nonstick scissors and smoothed off some rough edges with my craft dremel.

I placed the bowl on a craft mat and sprayed it with acrylic sealer, inside and out.

Now I have a piece of art for myself!

I can use it alone, to hold treasures or even a battery operated candle to set the mood at night. :)

I love how the colors glow when held up to the sunlight!
What do you think?

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Hello!

My name is Michelle Frae Cummings. I am a artist, wife, teacher and a mom. I find inspiration for my art in all aspects of life. The more color, the better! I look forward to sharing my creative adventures with you. - Welcome to my blog!

FTC Disclaimer

This blog is a collaborative blog written by Michelle Frae Cummings, Artist, Designer, Instructor and it is my opinion on the products that I use for my creative style. They are not to defame, humiliate or cause injury to anyone should you decide to act upon or use the information provided.

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